To the Caribbean With Love: A visit to Kidderminster

Yesterday, we took a drive to the town of Kidderminster in Worcestershire. I wanted to visit the town because it's not very far from Wales, but specifically because my great-grandmother, Clorinda May Pountney, was born and spent her first four years here before emigrating with her family to Australia around 1880.

After a two and a half hour drive, we arrived. My first impressions of the place were that it was a town that combined both the modern and the old. The old was manifest in churches dotted here and there, and a few old warehouses. These sat among modern buildings, supermarkets, shops, and 21st century creations such as Debenhams and Wetherspoons. Jean noticed the town was very working class. Outside the town hall is a statue to Sir Rowland Hill, a famous Kidderminster man. Sir Rowland was the first person in the world to come up with the idea of putting a stamp on a letter. Thus, the world's first, the Penny Black, came into being in 1840.

I knew from the Internet that there are many Pountneys still living in and around Kidderminster. As I walked the streets, I wondered how many of the people I was walking past might be fifth-, sixth-, or perhaps 10th cousins of mine. There may be many.

Something occurred to me while I was in Kidderminster. We all know how doctors are often believed to over-diagnose ilnesses and over-prescribe certain medications. We assume that doctors like to find the easiest solution for the doctors, rather than work a bit harder to identify problems for patients. I wondered, what if doctors have always done that? Back in the days when Great Britain had a vast empire, including areas of the globe with hot climates such as Australia and South Africa, might a doctor, visited by a patient with constant bronchial problems or the like, recommend, habitually, that they emigrate to warmer climes? I know that another ancestor of mine, Harry Chaplin Standen of London's East End, was told he should emigrate for his health. And I remember my Kidderminster ancestor, Clorinda May, was bronchial all her life. Perhaps her family needed to get away from the cold. Certainly, I personally felt very cold strolling through the modern malls of Kidderminster.

After a couple of hours in Kidderminster, we took the short drive to Worcester. We didn't stop - just had a look. We then returned to Aberystwyth in time to see the film, American Sniper.

A church in Kidderminster